Better Than Real Because It's Not.

(Oct 6) preed came to town, his first visit since 2007. I didn’t get to spend enough time with him the last time because Billy had just begun his death spiral. This time Paul probably saw more than enough of me. This is that story. <insert Law & Order sound here />

Paul came to town

He stayed in the Columbus Circle area

The crazy people were there to greet us

He gave a talk at the Wall St. Atrium

We had lunch at Katz’s. The live entertainment was a family that repeatedly left their baby unattended at the table where it sucked on a mustard bottle.

We walked to Brooklyn across the Brooklyn Bridge

Then walked back to Manhattan across the Manhattan Bridge

We made landfall in Chinatown.

Someone in the Bronx who works at the Irish bar he ate at cloned his card to buy a $1000 phone.

(Sep 11) It is past 9 PM on a Sunday night. I head into the city with the ubercamera for a familiar journey. I really don’t know much about how to use the camera still at this point (and still don’t), but I got some good results. Again, this may be the last time they do The Lights, and the neighbors must absolutely hate the installation. So, although I have to move in a couple of days, I get on the train.

Brooklyn Bridge, 1:15 AM. That brightness in the distance turned out to be The Tribute In Light.

Not only did the clouds defile the view, so did the contractor working on the bridge.

Despite these unfortunate circumstances, the ubercamera remained uber.

Oh how far my new camera has come from the others.

At this point, I still wasn’t quite sure they were even on.

A look around… Downtown.

Midtown, Manhattan Bridge, Empire State and Chrysler Buildings. The top of the ESB is in the cloud cover.

There it is.

The clouds were unfortunate, to say the least.

Tributes to the dead.

The new station. It is a big yawn, and no longer opens in a convenient spot (for me).

I wonder what that’s lit for.

I do some version of this shot every time.

Phaser attack?

This was the only decent shot out of a dozen in this same spot, which I’ve used in the past.

One more “it looks like it’s coming from the building” shot.

This one really is coming from the top of the building. This is the parking garage the installation sits atop.

The Lights are not actually at the World Trade Center. There, down the block, is the new One World Trade Center.

Up close, and personal.

I don’t like this shot so much, but it is the last one I took for the evening, and thus possibly the last one I’ll take of the Tribute In Light.